Railroad Commission v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad

Citations

• 257 U.S. 563
• 66 L. Ed. 371
• 42 S. Ct. 232
• 22 A.L.R. 1086
• 1922 U.S. LEXIS 2439

Syllabus

<p>1. An order of the Interstate Commerce Commission requiring a horizontal increase of intrastate passenger fares and excess baggage charges, to correspond with fares and charges fixed for like interstate service in the same State, can not be sustained, under § 13 of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended by the Transportation Act of 1920, as an order to remove undue and unreasonable prejudice to persons traveling in interstate commerce, when it broadly embracés not only the intrastate rates to and from border points, which may work discrimination against interstate passengers and localities, but also those between points more remotely internal from which no such prejudice can arise upon the facts found by the Commission. P. 579. The Shreveport Case, 234 U. S. 342, and Illinois Central R. R. Co. v. Public Utilities Commission, 245 U. S. 493, distinguished.’</p> <p>2. Such an order is not validated by a clause saving the right of the State, or other party in interest, to apply to the Commission for a modification as to particular intrastate fares or charges. P. 580.</p> <p>3. The Transportation Act of 1920, § 422, (§ 15a), provides in part that the Commission, in the exercise of its power to prescribe just and reasonable rates, shall initiate, modify, establish or adjust such rates so that carriers as a whole, or in groups or territories designated by the Commission, will earn an aggregate net income equal to a fair return on the aggregate value of their railway property held and used for transportation; that the Commission shall determine what percentage of such aggregate property value constitutes a fair return and such percentage shall be uniform for the groups or territories; and that in making such determination it shall give due consideration to the transportation needs of the country and the necessity of enlarging transportation facilities in order to provide the people of the United States with adequate-transportation,</p> <p>Held: (a) The effective operati